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Become More Athletic

Increase Your Explosive Speed & Power

RATE:

Becoming
strong is the goal of a lot of people who train and definitely worth
working towards but for lots of people who do a lot of weight
training, this can lead to a significant decrease in speed and
agility, which if you also play a sport is a serious disadvantage.

If
your goal is to not only be strong but also fast and explosive then
the secret may lie within your muscles. There are 2 types of muscles
in your body; slow-twitch muscles and fast-twitch muscles.

How
many you have of each will largely depend on your genetics. Although
both fibre types can hypertrophy, another word for increase in size,
fast-twitch fibres possess a greater capacity for growth. Genetics
influence fast-twitch fibre distribution within each muscle group.
There
are 2 sub-types of fast-twitch muscle fibres, however these are the
ones you need to focus on increasing as they are the ones responsible
for explosive speed.

These
are a few tips you can follow and add to your training plan to become
more explosive.

Train Accordingly

Add some exercises to
your routine that are proven to aid development of fast twitch muscle
fibres.

Effective exercises
include Vertical Jumps, Broad Jumps, Power Cleans, Power Snatches and
Depth Jumps. These should be implemented into a plan of a minimum of
3-4 times per week along with those heavy compound lifts.

Focus On The Force

This isn't a Star Wars
reference, we're referring to the force of the movement during each
rep. The more force produced, the greater the contribution of
fast-twitch muscle fibres. For example, if you're doing a bent-over
barbell row, focus on an explosive upward movement and a slow release
back to the starting position. This will incorporate more muscle
fibres into action.

Emphasise The
Eccentric

Hypertrophy is required
to maximise stimulation of fast-twitch muscle fibres and this is best
achieved with eccentric training. An eccentric emphasis produces
greater gains in hypertrophy than concentric or isometric. Train
using movements that emphasize the eccentric in order to place a
heavier demand on those fast-twitch fibres.

Mix Up Your Workouts

Instead of having
separate workouts for your heavy lifting and plyometrics, mix them
up. Plyometrics performed prior to a heavy lift can help awaken the
central nervous system which allows you to lift more. For example,
try doing a heavy bench press of 80-90% of your max for up to 7 reps
followed by a set of explosive plyo push-ups for up to 10 reps.

Get In The Zone

You have to be in the
mood for heavy lifts. There's no going half-in with them as you'll
only be disappointed and most likely injure yourself in the process.
Put on your favourite music, get a training partner to encourage you,
hit yourself a few times, whatever it takes to make sure you get the
weight up!

These are just a few of
the things you can do to improve your explosive speed and power but
taking these steps and implementing them into your training plan will
do wonders to your explosiveness and aid you in your future lifts as
well as any other sports or exercises you do.